Busy Saturday

The boys have been loving their Upward Basketball games.  Jackson has improved so much, but best of all he is having a great time.  I tried to grab a few shots of his latest game.

He is in the thick of the action here...which is saying a lot...though it would be nice if you could actually see him in my picture.

Here he is...blurry, yes...but he's out there.

Wanted to share this one too.

This little guy loves this chair in the play room.  He could seat there all afternoon and watch his very favority movie of all.

Toy Story 2

Heart Day Preps

We've been having a lot of fun getting ready for Valentine's Day.  While Connor was at school, Jackson went to town perfecting his hearts.  He did such a great job.  So cute. 

Jackson is also working on his writing.  I am amazed at how good he is getting.  The best part....he loves it!

After he finished his hearts...he wanted to write all of our names down.  He put his version of a smiley face next to everyone's name.

Next, he added a 100 for each of us.  I guess that means he likes us?

He was so proud he wanted me to take a picture of him when he finished.

After he looked at the first pictures, he made me take another.  He wanted to be able to see the entire board...and his smiling face.  :)

I LOVE this kid so much.  He is such a sweetheart.  I'm overjoyed that he is showing so much interest in writing and reading.  He loves to snuggle and is quick to ask for a hug or tell me he loves me.  He is also a nice kid.  Everyday at the end of pre-school he wants to say good bye to all of his friends.  It is precious.  He does get a little sad if he misses someone.  I pray that he never loses the sweet innocent and wonderful gentle heart.

This weekend we also worked on making valentines for school parties.

Jackson wrote out the name of every child in his class.  It took a little while, but he did a great job and enjoyed the finished product sooooo much.

Connor also made hand made Valentines for all his friends.

He addressed them too...though I wish he'd work a little on his hand writing.

Next up....Valentine treats.....

Making Progress

After what seems like forever, we're making some progress in the kitchen.  We hired a carpenter to come in and finish off the window opening that leads into the rec. room.

These are pictures from Day 1.

This is a view from the kitchen into the rec. room.  He framed it out and will put skill out the rest of the walls and replace a cabinet.

Below is the view from the rec room/laundry room.  You can see where we took out another row of bricks on each side to open up the space a little more.

Day 2

You can see he dry walled the opening and finished it off with a nice edge on the kitchen side.

Here's the rec room side.  He build in a little counter area at the base of the window so it matches up with the existing counter top.

I'm loving it.

In Door Camp Out

Connor came home from school one day and asked if we could have a camp out.  Not sure where he got the idea...but what the heck.  So what does an indoor camp out consists of?  For Connor...a roaring fire, Smores, sleeping bags, and playing the limbo.  Yeah, I'm not sure where that one came from either. :)

Craig got the fire roaring.  I got out the fondue sticks....much too short mind you...and some marshmallows.  I even made a trip to the grocery store to get Hershey bars and graham crackers. 

Craig was the designated marshmallow roaster.

The boys were super excited.  Mitchell opted to just eat the marshmallow, graham cracker and chocolate separately.  The entire time Craig was asking me if I was sure I knew what I was getting into to.  The answer...of course, not.

The boys were really good...they stayed back from the fire and listened to our warnings about how hot the fire and the marshmallows were.

I did not get any pictures of the limbo.  It was cute...I was holding the pole so I didn't have my camera.  We had a great time though.  Great idea, Connor.  We wrapped up the night with a Scooby-Doo Thrillogy. 

Jamaica-n Me Crazy!!

Right around Christmas my dear husband surprised me with a wonderful trip.  (I knew about it for awhile...but couldn't tell anyone until the other people involved were informed.)

Craig...and the husbands of my three good friends...planned a trip for us. 

So, the first week of January...we headed out.

Mel, Steph and I spent the night at a hotel near the airport...Chris met us there.

It was really, really early.  We had to be at the airport around 6 to get checked in.

I barely slept the night before...either it was because I was totally excited or because the hotel room got up to 800 degrees!

We had to wait way to long in the airport....as you can see, Mel was trying to catch some extra zzzz.

It had snowed the night before we left...so we watched the crew as they de-iced the airplane.

Next up...we headed for Jamaica!

Here are Chrissy and I on the plane.

We actually took about a dozen versions of this picture...so I wouldn't see my double chin.

HA!

Not a good one in the bunch.

It didn't take too long until we saw this.   The crystal blue water of the Caribbean Sea!

We're here!

This is us standing in line at customs...or immigration...I'm not sure which one.  It went pretty quick though.

(By the way, Steph has much better pictures of all of this...)

Our first day was spent getting situated and sitting on the beach.

That night was awesome...Beach  BBQ!

I know, this is an awful picture, but I was trying to capture what the resort looked like at night.  It was totally gorgeous.

The beach bbq was so fun.  Lots of food, drinks, entertainment.

No makeup for me!

Ignore the dead looking plants in the foreground.  Not sure what that's all about...but you can see the tiki torcehs and the tables set up on the beach.  It was so nice to.  Day time highs in the 80's...night time in the 70's.  Perfection.

This is a small outdoor bar that we enjoyed.  It look out over the ocean.  Every night they had entertainment up here...I think it was a jazzy, Jamaican band.  Very good.

There was also a show every night.  Crazy energy.  My camera couldn't capture it too well.  This was the steel drum show.

Here are a few pictues of the resort.  The Grand Palladium - Lady Hamilton.

Better than my greatest expectation.

Look what we found in Jamaica....imported from Lancaster County!

One of the beaches....

Outdoor massages overlooking the ocean.

The main pool

The pool at night....Gorgeous.

We enjoyed phenomenal food... 

There were so many good restaurants....3 or 4 buffets...6 a la carte restaurants.  We had seafood, Mexican, Jamaica jerk...Yum.

Lots of great entertainment....

Our i-phones did not work...which is probably a good thing!

Though we did miss our families and think of them often.

We chilled in the fabulous outdoor bar....

Steph was excited about something....

My best look...

mel writing a very important note....

We had such a great time.  So many wonderful memories.  The snorkeling, the swimming, the paddle boats, the food, the beaches, the laughs.

The inside jokes....like the guy on the shuttle bus (legs or no legs), We Are Penn State,  this is a great book!...and so many others.

Checking out.....

Our final meal....

I am so thankful for these friends...and for the husbands that thought we deserved this!

Our super-cool driver dude.

So nice.

Leaving 81 degrees and sunny....to head home to cold and snow. :(

Back in the USA.

Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times...

It was tough to head home after such an amazing time away.  When we landed it was about 15 degrees with snow on the ground.  Rough.  I called home and the boys were getting ready to head to bed.   They had a great time with Daddy.

Somebody is happy to see mommy....